Winston Churchill summarized the theme of his seminal history of World War II as [h]ow the English-speaking peoples through their unwisdom, carelessness, and good nature allowed the wicked to rearm.

His first volume, The Gathering Storm, recounted many instances of failure among the leading figures of the 1930s to appreciate the growing danger of Hitlers rise to power. Churchills history highlighted how the good intentions and virtuous character of Britain, France, and the United States hindered them from taking actions that could very well have prevented a war that claimed the lives of some 60 million people. He marveled at

[how] easily the tragedy of the Second World War could have been prevented; how the malice of the wicked was reinforced by the weakness of the virtuous; how counsels of prudence and restraint may become the prime agents of mortal danger; how the middle course adopted from desires for safety and a quiet life may be found to lead direct to the bulls-eye of disaster.

In 2011, the United States faced a federal budget crisis. The government had hit its debt ceiling, yet needed to accommodate a mounting annual budget deficit. The two major political parties were at an impasse on how to authorize more debt while somehow slowing the annual growth in federal spending.

Enter the Budget Control Act of 2011. It was intended to incentivize the parties to reduce federal budget growth by legislating mandatory cuts so painful  to the countrys security, in particular  that the parties would find some compromise in their positions that would allow them to avoid such harsh consequences. The effort to compromise failed, and the cuts became law, drastically reducing spending on defense through the early 2020s. Meanwhile, operational employment of the military was kept at high levels, accelerating the consumption and degradation of equipment, supplies, and people.

Unable to pay for the large force needed to sustain operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and a variety of commitments around the world, the military shrank in size but saw little reduction in its workload. In fact, it started consuming itself, deferring maintenance and modernization to pay for current readiness and the immediate expenses of fuel, ammunition, and replacement of equipment lost in combat operations. As the fewer people, units, and equipment prematurely aged, the delayed arrival of replacement items worsened the material condition of the force, exacerbated further by the lack of funding for repair parts and maintenance personnel.

The military is now in a death spiral: too small for its workload; underfunded to repair and replace the equipment it is rapidly wearing out; ill-served by obsolescent critical infrastructure at its ports, bases, and airfields, and increasingly unready for the rigors and scope of a major conventional conflict should the United States find itself drawn into one, which has happened every 20 years or so with frightful regularity since the Civil War.

Gen. Daniel B. Allyn, until recently the vice chief of staff of the Army, has testified that only one-third of our BCTs [brigade combat teams], one-fourth of our combat aviation brigades, and half of our division headquarters are considered ready. Currently, of the Armys 31 brigade combat teams only three would be available to immediately deploy to a conflict. As recently as 2012, the Army had 45 brigade combat teams and nearly the entire Army was involved in the rotational base supporting combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Marine Corps is insufficiently manned, trained and equipped across the depth of the force to operate in an ever-evolving operational environment, according to Gen. Glenn Walters, assistant commandant of the Marine Corps. Only 41 percent of the Corps aviation platforms are considered flyable.

At only 276 combatants, the Navy has two-thirds the ships it did near the end of the Cold War. It now has the smallest battle fleet since before World War I. Of its 18 classes of ships, only seven are currently in production. The recent spate of ship collisions and a grounding imply problems in basic ship-handling skills.

North Korea has become a nuclear power and is closing in on its goal of possessing missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads to any spot on the planet. It can already hit the United States. Iran sustains its support of terror groups such as Hizballah and has worked to undermine effective governance in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen. An assortment of odious terrorist groups continues to ravage portions of the Middle East and Africa.

Yet like France and Britain in the 1930s, the United States has neglected to keep its military strong enough to confront regimes threatening the peace and security of the free world and of America itself.

Churchill repeatedly warned his countrymen of the dangers of complacency, misguided priorities, and weakness of will, of the foolishness to see the world and major competitors as being anything other than what they truly are. While praising the virtues and spirit of moderation that defined the English-speaking peoples of his day, he also urged them to recognize the necessity of having the courage to take timely action when dangers threatened and clearly visible trends in an eroding ability to provide for their common defense were leading toward disaster.

A similar state of affairs afflicts the United States today. To the extent America intervenes in the affairs of others, it is because the United States has been attacked first, an ally is in dire need of assistance, or an enemy threatens broader regional stability.

Americans and their elected representatives in Congress consistently prefer to focus on matters at home. In their zeal to achieve a peaceful, easy life for all, they have consistently pushed to increase spending on all manner of domestic interests from healthcare to education, subsidized crop insurance, and alternative energy options, even as theyve expanded federal benefits to an increased percentage of our number. But these have increasingly come at the cost of providing for the nations defense, arguably the preeminent responsibility and obligation of the federal government.

Churchill recognized that a nations priorities in spending must align with its security interests and that a failure to do so  combined with an unwillingness to make corrections in the face of clear danger  reveal a loss of will, courage, and clear-eyed thinking.

Some in America do recognize these dangers and, like Churchill, have the wisdom and courage to sound the alarm. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has been quite blunt, saying:

[N]othing has done more damage to the readiness of our armed forces than the continuing resolutions that stop us from taking initiative, than the lack of budgetary predictability I bring this up because if we dont get budgetary predictability, if we dont remove the defense caps, then were questioning whether or not America has the ability to survive. Its that simple.

A few others  Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), among them  have been equally plainspoken. But many more of their colleagues need to join them. The Heritage Foundation is doing its part to inform the discussion with its Index of U.S. Military Strength, among other efforts, but more needs to be done to raise awareness of worsening shortfalls in the ability of the U.S. military to protect national security interests.

The United States stands at a crossroads. Its decision on whether its investment in defense will be commensurate with its security and economic interests will dictate whether it continues to lead the free world as the preeminent global power or cedes it place to hungrier, more confident powers that do not share our values or interests.

Unlike other countries, when we fall( I pray we don’t until after the Lord comes) no one will come to our aide. America has always been a solo operator with God as leader and now since the government kicked Him out years ago...I pray until tears come to my eyes.

Sequestration has been a huge disaster for our military industrial base

Bill Clinton, who famously loathed the military, pretty much killed off the network of specialized, highly skilled small to medium sized companies that make up the second and third tier defense sub contractors that are the backbone and worker bees of our

A major effort was mounted under George Bush to rebuild this subcontractor network to cure the disrepair and decay of the military from the Clinton years

A lot of small companies rose to the challenge and took out big debt loads to capitalize new machinery to meet the defense needs of the country after bin Laden exploited the Clinton era weakness and vulnerability to start a war of terror against America

When the sequester hit, these companies were in a bad position of high debt load and complete dependency on military contracts for close to 100 percent of their business and most had their contracts cancelled overnight.

In the space of less than a year, most were bankrupt and in liquidation thanks to our feckless politicians

A lot of people do care, but they have other higher priorities, and a history of why sequestration was implemented explains this. Dems refuse to cut spending on domestic programs (and often measure effectiveness by inputs). Socialists want cover from nominal conservatives for raising taxes. Obama thought cuts to the Pentagon budget were a Republican pain point.

Republicans believe that there is enough wasteful spending in the Pentagon budget for a significant cut, and taxes have been a severe pain point for them since a tax hike cost George HW Bush re-election. Note really cutting wasteful spending is very hard as the worst abuses are mandated by law.

Here's what is worse-- Russia is training and preparing like we haven't seen since the Cold War. The figures in this piece are awful, but it still does not capture the fact that we have lost our institutional capabilities for fighting a major war.

When is the last time that major maneuver formations trained to fight on a battlefield contaminated by chemical weapons or nuclear radiation?

Has the U.S. Navy been training to take on a hostile enemy aircraft carrier battlegroup? (I honestly don't know.)

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